Taro Maki

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Anime has never exactly been known for presenting cohesive, logical stories. Millennium Actress, from the director of the controversial and much-maligned Perfect Blue, is exactly what we expect -- sans the robots and characters with blue hair. The story is something Jessica Tandy might have made in live action, about an elderly, retired, and reclusive actress who relives her past after a documentary crew comes calling. It seems that have discovered the key -- a real, brass key -- to unlocking the secrets of her past, which takes them right into her earlier movies, whether she's a medieval geisha or a space traveler, a teen or a middle-aged woman. Reality and fiction blend into one mysterious movie that fails in one critical component: We are never made to care about the main character.